Electric sign



May 23, 1950 E. D. MCLENDON ELECTRIC SIGN Filed Dec. 6, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventors Earl fill/afienzian W4M A no way! 1950 E. D. MCLENDON 2,508,680

ELECTRIC SIGN Filed Dec. 6, 1946. Sheets-Sheet 2 I mentors Earl fl jyczanioiz AT 3'" mfiaawaw A no rneys Patented May 23, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELECTRIC SIGN EarlD. McLendon, Atlanta, Ga.

Application December 6, 1946, Serial No. 714,478

' 2 Claims. (01. 40 1s0) This inventionrelates to an improved construction of animated electric sign especially intended and adapted for use as an advertising medium and by means of which images willbe projected onto a screen or transparent panel for attracting attention thereto and toilluminated advertising matter disposed in close proximity thereto.

More particularly, itis an object of the invention to provide an electric sign-havinga movably disposed light-source for projecting imagesonto a screen or transparent panel whereby such image or images. will be caused to appear to move relativel to thegscreen or panel;

Other advantages of the, invention will hereinafter become more fullyapparent from'the following description of the drawings, illustrating preferred embodiments thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is an end elevational view of the improved electric sign;

Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along a, plane as indicated by the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 i a horizontal sectional view of the sign takensubstantiallyalong a planeaslindicated by the line 3-3 ofFigure2;

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantially alonga plane as indicated by the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the illuminating means and its support;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 6-6 of Figure 2;

Figure '7 is a view similar to Figure 4 of a modification of the electric sign, and

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic View of the electric circuit for the illuminating means of the sign.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the electric sign in its entirety is designated generally 9 and includes an elongated housing l0 having a central transverse partition H and corresponding removable end walls |2 which are detachably retained in position by retaining members l3 of angular cross section which have corresponding sides engaging over the side wall Ill and opposite sides engaging the edge portions of the end wall I2.

The end walls |2 are preferably each in the form of a transparent or translucent panel having an upper part I4 adapted to contain any suitable printed matter or advertising matter which may be applied thereto in any suitable manner so as to render the portion l4 transparent or translucent and of various colors, 01- partially opaque and partially transparent or translucent, so that light rays passing outwardly therethrough will render the advertising mat, ter on the portion I4'readily visible in either day or night. The lower half of each end "wallor panel 12 constitutes a transparent or translucent panel or screen it which may be either plain orto position said motor in the lower part of" the housing.v The motor extends through they opening N5 of the partition H and is shownpro vided with a driven shaft l8 which extends out;-

wardly from each endthereof and to eachend of which is keyed a disk l9. Each disk l9-is provided with a lamp socket 20' which is mounted therein adjacent its periphery" andwhich is adapted to support a conventional incandescent lamp bulb 2|, which projects from the outer side:

of the associated disk |9. Each socket 20 is .-provided on, its inner'end on the inner side. of: its disk l9 with radially spaced inner and outer electrical-contacts 22 and:23', respectively, which respectively engage annular conductor strips 24 and 25, respectively, carried by a ring 26 of insulating material which is supported behind its associated disk l9 and around an end of the electric motor I! by a plurality of supporting arms or brackets 21 which are in turn supported by the electric motor |1. It will be readily understood and as clearly illustrated in Figure 2, each of the disks l9 carries a socket and lamp bulb and each socket 20 is associated with a pair of conductor strips 24 and 25. The inner conductor strips 24 are preferably grounded by electrical conductor wires 28 on the casing of the electric motor I! and a conductor wire 29 leads from each of the conductor strips 25 to a suitable source of electric current 30, as illustrated in the diagrammatic view, Figure 8. A manually control make and break switch 3| ma be interposed in the circuit of Figure 8 for interrupting the flow of current to the lamp bulb 2| when the electric motor I1 is not energized. The circuit of Figure 8 illustrates only one of the lamp bulbs 2| and the circuit thereof, but it will be readily apparent that the other circuit for the other lamp bulb 2| is identical and further, it will be readily obvious, that only one light source and its associated circuit and rotating means may be utilized, in which case a partition I I could function as a rear Wall.

Each of the transparent or translucent portions I is provided with one or a plurality of inwardly extending pins or supports 32 having inner restricted, threaded ends 33 adapted to extend through apertures 34 in one or a plurality of image members 35 which are thus supported between the screen or panel I5 and its light source 2|. The image members 35 are retained on the threaded portions, 33 by a nut 36 and are protected by washers 31, disposed on each side of the member 35. The image member or members 35 may be formed of various materials including transparent or translucent colored materials or opaque or partially opaque materials, so that the light rays from the light source 2| will either be projected therethrough for projecting an image of the member 35 on its associated screen or panel |5 or so that the member 35 will intercept the light rays; so as to produce a shadow on the otherwise illuminated panel or screen l5. V

In Figure 4 the image member 35 is shown as being formed of a transparent material having a design 38 thereon which may be either opaque or of colored transparent or translucent material, and in Figure 7 a smaller, distinctively shaped image member 35a which is preferably formed of a colored transparent or translucent material, is disclosed.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that when the light sources 2| are energized and the motor i1 is likewise energized for revolving the shaft I8 and disks I9, that each light source 2| will revolve behind .the image member or members 35, ass'ociated'therewith, so that the light rays, from the revolving light source, will be projected through the images for casting a moving representation thereof on each screen or panel |5, located outwardly of said image member 35. Likewise, if the image member 35 is formed of opaque material, a moving shadow from the light source 2| will be projected onto the screen l5, so that various forms of image members may be utilized and the images or shadows therefrom projected on the screen or screens l5 so as to appear to be moving in a circle, and by providing a plurality of image members 35 in association with each light source 2| and screen l5, various novel 4 results may be obtained. Further, by mounting the disks l9 eccentrically on the shafts 8 the light sources 2| can be caused to move in an irregular endless path for accomplishing other novel effects.

The light source or sources 2| can be utilized to illuminate the advertising panels II or other illuminating means may be provided in the casing for this purpose.

Various other modifications and changes are likewise contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

- I claim:

1. In an electric sign, an opaque casing having transparent or translucent end walls provided with upper sections adapted to contain advertising matter and lower sections forming screens, said casing having a transverse partition intermediate of its ends, an electric motor mounted in the casing and extending through said partition.

and disposedadjacent the bottom thereof, an armature shaft driven by the motor and having portions disposed on-either side of the partition, supporting members projecting radially from said shaft portions, a light source mounted on each of said supporting members and rotated by said shaft, and a stationary colored transparent or translucent member interposed between each screen and light source and'through which the light rays are adapted to pass for projecting a moving image of said member on the screen.

2. An electric sign as in claim. 1, and commutator means forming a part of the electric circuit of each ofthe movable light sources.

i i 1 EARL D. MCLENDON.

REFERENCES, CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES; PATENTS Musaphia ,June 11, 1940 

